


Lying in the Dark

by Mithen



Category: World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Angst, Gen, Nightmares, Regret
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-01
Updated: 2016-09-01
Packaged: 2018-08-12 10:03:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7930483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mithen/pseuds/Mithen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kevin Owens is Champion of the Universe, king of the world, sleeping in his fancy hotel room alone because he doesn't <i>need</i> to share a room with anyone.</p>
<p>And then Sami Zayn calls him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lying in the Dark

Kevin Owens, champion of the universe, draped his new championship across the pillow on the other side of his hotel bed. “Nothing but the best for you and me,” he said. “I bet these sheets are...thousand count or something. Whatever really good sheets are.” The belt was scarlet as fresh blood. It looked good on the white pillow. It looked good everywhere, but especially on his shoulder.

He slipped between the sheets himself and reached out to brush it with his fingers, still just a little uncertain it was real. But it was. Triple H had given it to him, right there in front of all those people. He had taken Kevin’s hand and raised him up and now Kevin was on top, where he had always belonged. Now everyone would see. _Everyone._

The room was quiet, filled with a reverent hush as he touched the leather and metal. He fell asleep with the solid reality of it still under his fingers.

* * *

His phone was ringing. He realized this only as he woke up swiping at it, accidentally picking up before he could see who it was, then dropping it on the floor. 

He squinted blearily down at it, and it said: “Kev?”

It was Sami’s voice.

Kevin felt his eyebrows shoot up, suddenly wide awake. This was it, this was it _at last._ Sami was calling to admit that Kevin was the bigger man, that Sami had been _lucky_ to be in his shadow, that Kevin had outshone him in every way. He scrabbled for the phone, his heart pounding. Triumph. Validation. Not that he _needed_ any more validation than the title, but… “Yeah?” he said into the phone, his voice breathless. From being woken up in the middle of the night, of course. 

“Hey,” said Sami’s voice, and then there was silence.

Kevin felt a pang of sympathy for poor Sami. This was going to be hard for him, of course. He waited as long as he could stand, then prompted: “You were calling to tell me… to admit that…”

Another long pause. Then Sami mumbled something indistinct and breathy, his voice thick, and Kevin dropped back onto the pillow with a disgusted sigh. He knew what Sami sounded like in the middle of the night when he got talking in his sleep. Kevin once had a rambling, insane conversation with him about trying to ride a bike on ice to avoid a cat-sized tarantula. “You’re asleep,” Kevin informed the phone. “I’m going to hang up on you.”

“I had a nightmare,” Sami said. Kevin’s finger hovered over the little red circle. “You were in it.”

_Well, naturally,_ Kevin thought, but didn’t say anything. The room was dark, the oblong of pale blue the only light in all the world.

“You were fighting Tyler,” Sami said. “He was hurting you.”

Kevin snorted, stung. “As if Breeze could--”

“--No,” Sami said, his voice drifting and distant. “Not Breeze. Black.”

Kevin froze.

“He was hurting you. You’d taken his title from him and he was angry. Which--” Sami paused and Kevin could almost _see_ his confused squint as he tried to wake himself up. “You...never won the title from him, did you? I can’t… But somehow he’d broken your nose and you were bleeding everywhere and sobbing and calling for--” Sami’s voice faltered for a second. “And I was trying to get to you. But I couldn’t move my legs. I wanted to help you so much, and I couldn’t. Something stopped me, there was a reason I couldn’t-- I couldn’t--” Sami’s voice was ragged. “It felt so real. But it wasn’t, right? It was just a dream, right?”

Kevin looked at the phone’s cool blue light, like a portal to another world. Sami wasn’t even here, this was a different Sami, one who didn’t know he was the Universal Champion. One who was trapped in Ring of Honor, fighting old fights in his dreams.

Or was he? Did he remember everything Kevin had-- Did he remember everything that had happened and did it not _matter_ when you woke up in the middle of the night from a nightmare, your heart pounding, just needing reassurance? Just wanting to hear a familiar voice telling you that everything was all right?

“Kev?” Sami’s foggy mumble had an edge of anxiety to it. “Are you okay? Just tell me you’re not hurt, so I can sleep.”

Kevin swallowed hard, and when he spoke, he was pleased that his voice sounded totally normal. “I’m fine,” he said. “I’m indestructible, you know that.” _I’m the Universal Champ,_ he wanted to say, but the words wouldn’t come out. _I’m unreachably far above you now, a star to your ant. I don’t need you any--I never needed you. I did this without you._

“Tyler didn’t hurt you tonight,” Sami said, his voice hopeful as when he would ask Kevin _Will we win?_ before a match. _Tell me the truth so it will feel real_.

“Tyler didn’t hurt me,” Kevin said.

“Nobody hurt you tonight,” Sami whispered.

“Not a soul,” Kevin lied.

“I’m sorry I didn’t help you,” Sami said. His voice sounded far away; he had let the phone drop and was falling back to sleep.

“I don’t need your help,” Kevin tried to say, but his lips just shaped the words and no sound seemed to come out. It didn’t matter anyway; Sami’s breaths were deep and even again, with the little nasal catch that meant he was truly asleep.

Kevin looked at the phone, and at the title lying on the pillow beside him. Slowly he nudged the title aside and put the phone down on the pillow next to it. He put his head back on his own pillow. He’d forgotten to hang up the phone; he could still hear Sami’s breathing coming from it. Inhale, catch, exhale. Inhale, catch, exhale. He’d hang up soon. He closed his eyes. Inhale, catch, exhale. Sami had been worried about him. Inhale, catch, exhale.

It was funny how in the dark, you could almost forget what year it was. You could almost forget that you were rich now and didn’t need to share your room with anyone. You could almost forget you were the Universal Champion and didn’t need anyone at all. You could maybe, just maybe, lie in the dark for a few moments and hear your tag partner breathing next to you.

Lie to yourself for a few moments and hear your friend sleeping next to you.

He listened until his phone battery died and plunged the room back into silent emptiness.


End file.
